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WELCOME,CHRISTINE AMSDEN TO MY BOOK ADDICTION AND MORE…..

FROM THE AUTHOR’S WEBSITE:

About the Author

Christine Amsden has been writing science fiction and fantasy for as long as she can remember. She loves to write and it is her dream that others will be inspired by this love and by her stories. Speculative fiction is fun, magical, and imaginative but great speculative fiction is about real people defining themselves through extraordinary situations. Christine writes primarily about people and it is in this way that she strives to make science fiction and fantasy meaningful for everyone.

At the age of 16, Christine was diagnosed with Stargardt’s Disease, a condition that effects the retina and causes a loss of central vision. She is now legally blind, but has not let this slow her down or get in the way of her dreams. (You can learn more here.)

Christine currently lives in the Kansas City area with her husband, Austin, who has been her biggest fan and the key to her success. They have two beautiful children, Drake and Celeste.

In the mid-21st century, the human race stopped aging. Those who know why aren’t talking, and the few who are brave enough to ask questions tend to disappear. To an elite few, The Change means long life and health, but to the ever-increasing masses, it means starvation, desperation, and violence.

Four centuries after The Change, Grace Harper, a blacklisted P.I., sets off on a mission to find the man responsible for it all and solicit his help to undo The Change — if he’s still alive. To complicate matters, Grace’s employer is suspected of murdering his father, and when the police learn of their connection, they give her a choice — help them find the evidence they need to convict Matthew Stanton, or die. But if they discover Grace’s true mission, they won’t hesitate to kill her in order to preserve their shot at immortality.

This is a bonus scene, not part of The Immortality Virus, but one that introduces an important character, Alexander Lacklin, and expands on his history. It takes place two hundred years before the story begins…

St. Louis, 2250

Alexander Lacklin knew he needed to quit his job, but he also knew work was scarce – even for someone with his reputation. A farm in Iowa was courting him, but the farms were beginning to make his skin crawl. Their contracts for indentured servitude looked more and more like slavery.

“It’s not ready for human testing,” Alex told his boss for the hundredth time. “We’ve barely had enough time to begin the animal studies.”

“Your reports said there were no side effects,” Maxwell Brice said, his normally pale, pointed face turning an interesting shade of crimson. That usually meant he had already made his
decision and no longer wanted to hear arguments.

Alex ignored the silent warning. “I said there were not short-term side effects. No immediate side-effects. That is not the same thing as no side-effects! Two weeks of animal
trials is hardly enough to consider such a dramatic change in every human’s diet.”

“It’s not that dramatic. People have been eating soybeans for centuries.”

“I’m not sure these are soybeans anymore!” Alex stood up, his wheeled office chair flying back. “I’ve said all of this if you’ve read the reports. I’m not ready to risk human lives on this.”

“You’re risking them anyway,” Maxwell said. “People are starving out there. There’s not enough food.” He didn’t mention last week’s deadly food riots in Washington, D.C., in which over a
thousand men, women, and children had lost their lives. He didn’t have to. They both knew what was at stake, but Alexander also knew that whatever food source came out of this lab, it was only a temporary solution. Even if the cheap meal bar could sustain human life, it couldn’t keep up with the ever-increasing population. It also tasted like cardboard, but Alex knew that was a moot point.

Besides, the mutated soybean plant was now so unlike a soybean he wasn’t sure it deserved the same name, let alone the assumption that any and all dietary effects would be similar. For all he
knew, it would sterilize the entire human race – which, despite the fact that they no longer aged, would be a disaster.

“I’m not signing off on it,” Alex said. “And you’re not putting my name on that thing.”

He hadn’t. He only hoped she would change her mind, and realize that he had been correct. Abandoning the human race by leaving with a colony ship would have helped no one save a handful of wealthy people with enough money to escape the planet before the population went from insane to ludicrous. They said the colonists were heroes, pioneering for the sake of the human race, which could only be true if there was any way for the rest of the human race to follow. There wasn’t. There just weren’t enough ships.

“They’re starting human testing,” Alex said.

Susan was quiet for a long time.

“Susan?”

“I’m sorry, Alex.” She sounded like she meant it, too, and for a second he heard the woman he had fallen in love with, rather than the one who had abandoned him when things got too hard. “I
wish I could do something, but I can’t, and I need to move on with my life. So do you.”

She hung up, leaving Alex with a hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach, but also a renewed determination.

An hour later, he joined the research group downtown, on the old courthouse steps not far from the Arch. Flyers had been handed out to the thousands of homeless people living under bridges, in condemned buildings, and in trash cans – they weren’t hard to find these days. The flyers offered food in exchange for volunteering in a research project, and they had turned out in droves. They filled the once-manicured lawns, now overgrown with weeds. They even filled the dried up fountain as they crammed in, elbow to elbow, each hoping for anything that would fill their empty stomachs.

Alex used his badge to push through the throng, noticing the hungry eyes of the people who stepped aside, as if they thought he might have food on him. More than one person brushed their hands against his pockets as he moved forward, and he sensed if he had anything in them, it would have been long gone. Luckily, he had been fitted with a state-of-the-art portable computer chip embedded into his skin, removing the need for him to carry money or I.D.

At the stairs of the courthouse, things were worse. Even with his badge, he had to push his way in, and the angry glares and mutters that followed him inside told him they all found him
suspect.

“Where’s the food?” More than one person shouted, as if they were afraid the entire thing was some kind of sick ruse. Perhaps it was.

The research team was assembled at the top of the stairs. Ben, with a big smirk on his cherubic face, reveled in handing out orders, while the other members of the team looked from Ben to Alex
in confusion.

“Now that Alex has had the courtesy to show up,” Ben said with as much disdain as he could manage, “we can start.”

Ben picked up a bullhorn, and began to talk to the crowd, telling them about the wonderful new food bar that provided a day’s worth of nutrition. That was debatable, since most of the
monkeys they had used in the animal trials wanted at least three.

The crowd stirred restlessly, their murmurs making Ben’s announcement difficult to hear. He told them he could only take applicants in good health, and that each test subject would receive a
week’s worth of nutri-bars.

When he finished, Alex took the bullhorn.

“What are you doing?” Ben hissed.

“Telling them the truth.” Alex pushed past the man, who was two centuries younger than Alex, with all the cockiness of youth. He stepped onto the platform and raised the bullhorn.

“What they’re not telling you,” Alex said, with the volume turned to maximum, “is that these bars have not been tested.”

Murmurs began sweeping through the crowd, a low buzzing that began to fill Alex’s ears, but he pushed on.

“We don’t know if they’re safe. We don’t know if they’ll kill you.”

The murmurs grew louder, now beginning to sound more like a swarm of angry bees.

“I urge you not to volunteer for testing, until we know they’re safe.”

Above the buzzing came first one angry shout, then another. Alex couldn’t hear the words, but he sensed the tone – they were mad. These people had been pushed around enough, and they weren’t going to take it any more.

Finally, Alex heard a clear question above the shouts and murmurs. “So is there food or not?”

“I think we may want to move,” Tom, the second most senior member of the team said.

Indeed, the crowd was surging forward, at first a few, and then all of them. The researchers exchanged looks, and then all of them ran inside the building, taking refuge in a room on one
side of the hallway, behind the boxes and boxes of food.

What followed could only be called a stampede. The hungry people poured through the grand front hallway, tearing open boxes and grabbing as many nutri-bars as they could carry before running off with their prizes. As the boxes emptied, fights erupted, leaving men, women, and children bloodied or dying. Those who fell were trampled.

Finally, Alex couldn’t take it anymore. He turned away from the glass window and buried his face in his hands.

“I’m going to make sure you get fired for this,” Ben hissed in Alex’s ear.

Alex didn’t look up. “You don’t have to. I quit.”

Thank you Christine for visiting with us today!!

MY THOUGHTS:

SOURCE: THIS BOOK WAS RECEIVED FOR THE PURPOSE OF REVIEW FROM THE AUTHOR FOR MY HONEST OPINION!!

THE IMMORTALITY VIRUS by Christine Amsden is an interesting Sci-fi set in the year 2050. The plot is intriguing,fast paced,and
action packed. The characters will keep you guessing,engaging,and interesting. This is a story full of science fiction,adventure,action,danger,romance,chaos,violence,and mystery. With “The Change” comes chaos,violence,desperation,starvation,and a shot at immortality. When Grace Harper,who has been blacklisted as a P.I.,she is hired by Matthew Stanton,the CEO of Medicorp, to locate a scientist,Jordan Lacklin,who once worked for Medicorp.They seem to want him to reverse the effects of the “Immortality Virus” or so they
say. She agrees.This story is a roller coaster ride with twists and turns that leads to a bone chilling and unexpected conclusion.This story will appear to any and all sci-fi,adventure,and action readers. A very unique and great read. This book was received for the purpose of review from the author and details can be found at Twilight Times Books

RATING: 4.5

REVIEWED BY: April Renn

***GIVEAWAY****

Thanks to the wonderful Christine,we are offering one lucky commenter E-Book copy of “The Immortality Virus”. This giveaway will run from today June 15, until June 22, 2011.